FOR THE first time in 2025, Gold Coast looked nervous against Port Adelaide last Friday night.

A win would have kept its top-four chances alive, but more importantly, lock in a finals berth for the first time in its 15-year history.

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And the Suns played like a team with everything to lose.

It's why Wednesday night's game against Essendon is perhaps not the gimme many people think.

Gold Coast is the better team and should win - comfortably - against a Bombers side that has been ravaged by injury. But the burden of doing something for the first time, not just as a team but as an entire men's program, should not be underestimated.

The Suns have had two chances already and failed. 

Against Greater Western Sydney in round 23, they put in a rare flat performance on the back of an emotional 10 days following the sudden passing of Will Graham's older brother, Jackson.

Against Port, the Suns simply couldn't meet the intensity brought by the home team in the farewell game for Ken Hinkley and Travis Boak.

More than that, though, the Suns played safe. They didn't beat any of Adelaide, the Western Bulldogs, Hawthorn, Collingwood or Brisbane earlier in the season by being safe.

Getting Daniel Rioli and Bailey Humphrey back from injury on Wednesday night, as flagged post-match by coach Damien Hardwick, will help bring some flair, but the rest of Gold Coast's 23 must do likewise.

This is a chance to create history, and should be a celebration in front of a strong home crowd (although the unusual Wednesday night timeslot might test the willingness of the locals to show up).

The Suns were always unlikely to challenge for a premiership this year. But even after the disappointing past fortnight, can still take huge belief into September if they pressure ferociously without the ball and run and gun with it against the Bombers.

Playing just one final – and hopefully two or three – will do so much to rewrite the troubled history of the AFL's 17th club.

Not only that, it will persuade the casual sports fan in Australia's sixth largest city to support a winner, something the people of this region have been crying out for, seemingly forever.

As the Suns push for that historic appearance in September, their National Rugby League neighbours, the Titans, are floundering at the bottom of the ladder.

Not only that, but coach Des Hasler found himself in a testy back and forth with journalists at the weekend and, on Monday, it was confirmed he will depart at season's end after a brutal campaign.

If Gold Coast plays tight on Wednesday night and gives Essendon a semblance of a sniff, things could get nervy in a hurry.

But if they play with the freedom and dare they have had for so much of 2025, they should be preparing for a nothing-to-lose elimination final come Thursday morning.